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How many bullets do you cast during a session?


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I was just wondering, for the rest of you who cast your own bullets, how many do you typically cast in a session?

 

For myself, I usually only cast one 20-pound pot's worth of bullets...with .45's that's about 400 to 500 bullets, depending on how efficient I am.

 

That usually takes a bit over two hours,not counting set-up and heat-up time, and, by the time I've emptied the pot, I just don't feel like doing it all over again.

 

 

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One pot of 20+ pounds. Then I find something else to do. Maybe one later in the day if I'm low on slugs and the weather is cool enough. And, yep, count on about 2 hours to cast out that pot with a three or four cavity mold.

 

Good luck and Happy Independence (note: we are NOT celebrating dependence upon government dole today!) Day

GJ

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Well.... I just switched over to a machine that will do 2000 an hour. When I hand cast, an hour or so is long enough to make about 1000+. After that the repetition is enough to drive me batty and give me a sore seat.

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I seldom cast more than 300 at a time ...

But I use mostly Bought cast and lubed bullets for my main match guns ,,,, except when shooting FC...

And I have found a source of cast bullets un-lubed & un-sized of the right temper for FC ....

So I will still cast some but I will probley buy my .44s & .45 in lots of 10,000 each ...

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

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I ladle pour with a Waage pot. I use Magna Eng. two cavity mold. I get about 650 180gn. 45s in about two hours.

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Have an old SAECO pot that really heats up the lead. So I run 2 six-cavity Lee molds. Will do a couple thousand in an evening, 2.5 hours. Tumble lube them as I go. The pot heats so well I really need to add another six cavity mold.

 

Bramble Mountain Buzzard - What machine are you using?

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I build a pyramid of ingots next to the 20 lb. bottom pour and never let it get below 1/3 down. When the ingots are gone, I'm done. I used to do thousands, taking a break to re-pile the ingots and go again. My left arm can't take it anymore and I need to leave some of it to be able to hold up the long guns so I quit after one pile now - about 2,000, give or take depending on what caliber I'm casting.

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Hiya Lou - Once-upon-a-time I "dabbled" in casting, then stopped. Now, I find that a certain bullet shape that I have an odd 6-cavity mold for, feeds better in my rifle than other conventional designs, so when it gets a bit cooler (it's 96 out my way now), I can cast about 2-3000 in two 2-day two hour periods. I find that the sizing/lubing is a bigger PIA than the casting - even with my Star machine.

Regards to you and Doc - Doc.

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It don't matter whether I'm casting with a three piece single cav. handheld, a six gang Lee, or the Master Caster, about 75 minutes and my attention starts to fade. So I bail out at about an hour and save myself the last excruciating 15 min of trying hard. Did I mention I like PERFECT bullets?

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I generally run 2 molds, 2 and 4-cavities. I run about 20 lbs of lead at a session, bu tsince I try to keep the pot above ½ full, that is only a swg... Numbers vary based on what size I'm casting. Much more than that, and it begins to feel like a "J-O-B."

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I also generally run two 6-cavity molds, usually different calibers, like .45 Colt and .38 Spl, so they are easy to visually sort out of the drop box. But sometimes I just run a pair of 6-cavity Mav Dutchman .44 molds.

 

I also sometimes run two melters, one with wheel weight type alloy for cartridge bullets, and another with pure lead for cap and ball bullets and conicals.

 

Last week I had two pots and four molds going, but I found that that was just too much gear to operate efficiently with.

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Please explain the tumble lube process. I run all my cast bullets through a Lyman luber/sizer.

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Tumble lubing with Lee liquid alox is the easiest thing there is. I use a Cool Whip bowl. Plase a hundred or so bullets in, squeeze some alox onto them and swirl for 30 seconds or so. The alox is spead to all surfaces of the bullet. It is a mineral spirit type base. You then spread the bullets on some wax paper overnight to dry. I prefer it to using lube grooves because the lube covers the entire bullet, not just in the lube grooves. But I do shoot both styles. I have been using it for conicals in my .50 caliber muzzleloader too, just with a heavier coating.

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And in answer to the original post, I pour one full pot generally, sometimes two per session. And I never get my pot below a third full. When I get close to shooting up all of that bunch, I pour another large batch. I think this helps in my hardness consistancy. I guess from lot to lot, so to speak. I also drop my bullets from the mold into a bucket of water. Dry on a towel in the sun for an hour or so, tumble lube, dry overnight and into a coffee can for storage under my bench. I just had a week off and poured five days. Ended up with almost 10,000 bullets.

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Enough to fill the box with 1300+ 200 grain .44s or a thousand .36 or .44 round balls per session. By that time I am in a semi-permanent hunch before the pot. :)

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Tumble lubing with Lee liquid alox is the easiest thing there is. I use a Cool Whip bowl. Plase a hundred or so bullets in, squeeze some alox onto them and swirl for 30 seconds or so. The alox is spead to all surfaces of the bullet. It is a mineral spirit type base. You then spread the bullets on some wax paper overnight to dry. I prefer it to using lube grooves because the lube covers the entire bullet, not just in the lube grooves. But I do shoot both styles. I have been using it for conicals in my .50 caliber muzzleloader too, just with a heavier coating.

I've been told that Liquid Alox and BP are not the best of friends. Does it work OK for you?
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Please explain the tumble lube process. I run all my cast bullets through a Lyman luber/sizer.

 

Lee has a line of bullet molds that cast a bullet specifically for using the tumble lube; multiple shallow grooves. Also these bullets come out true to size and don't need to be sized. It saves lots of time. My exception is that my .40 mold casts bullets that must be sized, so it is a parts mold now. The two .45 cal molds cast the correct size.

 

I don't think I would try the tumble lube on any other bullet style.

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I cast My first 45 250 grain bullet when I was 14 years old in 1955 using a Lyman single cavity mold 454190 and later s special oder mold with one cavity in 454190 a 250 standard mold and the other cavity in the 454260 semi-wad cutter Keith design at 260 grain. Lubing was a job with a melted lube in a pan and a Lyman tube the right size to size and cut off the extra lube from around the bullet.

I used wheel weights for pistol then as I still do now. I never really liked casting bullets and the main problem was getting the mould the right tem. Once I had everthing working, I woud cast for hours till I had used up my supply of lead or had cast all I needed. I dont think I ever case under 50 -75 pounds at any time. It took much longer then to size and lube the bullets than to cast them.

I was going hunting almost ever weekend and in a period of one year I know from empty primers boxes I had shot up well over 100,000 45 rounds in that year [Now 1956 57] I used Unique powder with full heavy loads of 9.5 in all my 45 Colt rounds. I had started with black powder before I had a scale and dies.

Today 58 years later I still have some bullets I had case back when I started so many years ago and they still have the Cooper-Hayward lube as well as the day I lubed them and I never found a better lube either. In time I started to cast 44 mag. and the rest is history. I all reality I had just as soon have a good cast bullet as much as I had a jacketed bullet when the velosity is under 1400-1500 f.p.s. My friedn and I used to go to a German range called Bexar Creek over between Fredericksburg and Comfort Texas and to this day one can pick up houndreds of 45 bullets from the time years ago when he and I shot them on the old 200 range back then.

 

Your Pard, Texas Man

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Last couple years I cast about 10,000 during the cooler fall season using wheelweights, but my wheelweights sources have dried up and down to 90 lbs. of ingots or about 3000 200gr. 44s with the Waage pot and like to leave the pot about half full all the time.

Looks like I will have to buy new lead supplies from a foundry. Have enough boolits for a year or so at current rate of use. Sure liked the free wheelweights.

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Pulp,

As I am not shooting many rounds at i time through the percussion rifle I do have good results with the Alox. If I were to be shooting more than a dozen or so I would be adding Wonder Lube to the projectile. I shoot mainly the Lee R.E.A.L. bullets from my .50. My buddy gets them from me for his inline and has no problems either. But I put on A LOT. Two good coats.

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I cast .32s. .452 sized in both 160 and 200 grain weights. I started casting about 7 years ago and average 30,000 to 35,000 a year... but one year when I was loading for a fellow I go to church with, his brother-in-law and his son, I made around 50,000. If things are going well, I can cast around 2000 .45s in about 2 1/2 hours. The .32s run faster, making around 3000 in the same time frame. I use Lee Alox and find that I get much less leading with alox than I did when I was using "commercial" bullets with wax lube.

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I can hand cast & size a 1000 bullets (using 3-4, 6-8 cavity Lee , Redding & H&G moulds and a Star sizer) in about 11/2 hours.

 

But I do miss the days when I had 2 casting machines going and runing 2000 each per hour.

 

That was 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 52 weeks a year.

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Mike it depends:

* 45 Colt & 45 ACP - usually a 20# pot for each

* 22LR - a 5# pot

* BPCR's - for a new mold, just 20. Then range test. If acceptable, then 100 - 200 caliber dependent

Last inventory count of cast bullets - 7700

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:FlagAm::FlagAm: :FlagAm: :FlagAm::FlagAm:

 

As long as it's working well, I reckon I drop about a gallon can full.

If it ain't working well, I get frustrated and wonder why I'm doing it when I can buy my bullets and not breathe the fumes.

But then what else am I going to do with 6000# of tire balancing weights? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

MG

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Mike it depends:

* 45 Colt & 45 ACP - usually a 20# pot for each

* 22LR - a 5# pot

* BPCR's - for a new mold, just 20. Then range test. If acceptable, then 100 - 200 caliber dependent

Last inventory count of cast bullets - 7700

22lr please explain!
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As many as needed! I buy bullets for CAS, so I only cast for rifles or a 500 SW handgun. You would be surprised how fast 525 grain .510 bullets (50 Alaskan or 50-110) empty a pot ! :blink:

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22lr please explain!

macinaw - it's called "Stepping Back into Time" ... for less of us in the US then they're fingers on one hand:

* New primed empty cases, 5000 purchase, - there aren't anymore for sale

* Custom mold from David Mos of the old UMC Match bullet - pure Pb

* CH4D seating die & shell holder

* 4.5gr of Swiss Null B out of a Lyman #5

* Lyman 225 H&I die with round upside down for the crimp

Normal reloading process and reloads that go 1210fps out my JM Marlin Ballard, Stevens 44 1/2 and Henry Yellow Boy !

The instigator, w44wcf, got a few of us started in this. With his Marlin, he has done 125 consecutive shots with no patching and accuracy is the same as the 1st round. I've gone 75 consecutive rounds with the same accuracy. I've even shot the reloads breech seated and accuracy is top shelf

 

Old Reloading Process - With Subsequent Changes Now...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?132172-22LR-Black-Powder-Reloads-How-to-Make-Them&highlight=22LR

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